{"id":7543,"date":"2014-11-21T16:17:36","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T00:17:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=7543"},"modified":"2014-11-22T15:55:57","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T23:55:57","slug":"man-claimed-influence-billionaires-trial-drunken-driving-indicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=7543","title":{"rendered":"Man Who Claimed He Could Influence Billionaire’s Trial for Manslaughter Drunken Driving Indicted"},"content":{"rendered":"

VERMONT<\/strong> – A \u00a0man was indicted for claiming that he would influence the outcome of the trial of Billionaire\u00a0John Goodman <\/strong>who was charged with drunken-driving manslaughter<\/p>\n

James D. Perron<\/strong>, 48, of Tinmouth, \u00a0for three counts of wire fraud and is facing up to 20 years behind bars along with a fine of up to $250,000 for each count, federal officials said.<\/p>\n

Goodman, a polo magnate, was convicted for drunken driving manslaughter and failure to render aid in October. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday.<\/p>\n

According to the indictment, Perron claimed in text messages sent from Vermont to Florida that through a relative on the jury he could influence the outcome of \u00a0Goodman’s high profile trial.<\/p>\n

Perron claimed that for an initial down payment of $500,000 he would obtain a hung jury for Goodman and expect to receive another $500,000 upon completion. Perron also wrote that if he got an acquittal for Goodman he would expect a final payoff of $1 million from Goodman, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

Perron lied. He didn’t have the ability to fulfill his claim.<\/p>\n

Goodman was re-tried in Palm Beach County by a jury drawn from the Tampa area of Florida after a new trial was ordered based upon juror misconduct, officials said.<\/p>\n

The retrial began on October 6 and concluded when the jury returned guilty verdicts on October 28, officials said.<\/p>\n

Goodman was arrested on October 26, 2014, before the verdict was returned.<\/p>\n

During the retrial, the Sun Sentinel newspaper<\/a> reported that the prosecutors said Goodman was speeding in his Bentley Continental GTC convertible at 63 mph, blew a stop sign and slammed into 23-year-old Scott Patrick Wilson’s Hyundai Sonata on Feb. 12, 2010.<\/p>\n

Wilson, a University of Central Florida engineering graduate, drowned after his car was flipped upside down into a canal.<\/p>\n

The Sun Sentinel reported that Goodman spent several hours before the 1 a.m. crash drinking at three Wellington bars that serve the polo community, the prosecutors said. Goodman had a .177 blood-alcohol content, more than twice the .08 legal limit to drive, as well as trace amounts of hydrocodone, according to a blood sample taken three hours after the crash.<\/p>\n

But the defense argued Goodman was not intoxicated when he was driving, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n